


Only In Death Is There Peace

by Ineffable_Hannigram



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Post-Fall (Hannibal), Sad Will Graham
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:21:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24919747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineffable_Hannigram/pseuds/Ineffable_Hannigram
Summary: This was originally a  300 ish word twitter prompt
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	Only In Death Is There Peace

When Will emerges from the water with a gasp he feels a sudden, uncontrollable joy. His body shakes with a disbelieving laugh. Despite the cold, he feels so warm. _They survived. They’re alive._ He whips his head around to shout to the other man, a wide smile cracking his face in two despite the gouge in his cheek.

“Han-!”

But no one’s there and his smile falls; heart plummeting. Will kicks his feet to keep himself aloft as he frantically looks around. Cold dread shooting through his body.

Hannibal isn’t there. Only miles and miles of the rolling Atlantic.

“Hannibal!” he shouts, his voice trembling.

“Where are you!”

Out of desperation he ducks under the water to try and see. But no one is there. It looks so dark and feels so cold. He does it again twice more, but sees nothing. One final time and he sees what looks like a figure. Or art least, a shadow of a figure.

Will takes a deep breath before plunging beneath the water’s depths, kicking to get to the other man.

He reaches his hand out and grasps hold of Hannibal’s sodden jumper before he’s thrusting his legs out as hard as he can, heading for the surface. Hannibal doesn’t move.

They reach the coast and Will drags Hannibal’s lifeless, stiff body from the water’s clutches. And then Will drops besides the man, desperate in his hopes of reviving the man as Hannibal shows no signs of stirring. He begins compressions but nothing seems to work. In a final attempt, Will places his mouth onto Hannibal’s cold lips, his air expanding Hannibal’s lungs, but the man never moves.

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

“Hannibal, c’mon please. You have to wake up. I need you” Will can feel the tears running down his face, but he pays it no mind, just continues on with trying to bring back the man he... To bring back Hannibal.

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

Will knows he’s sobbing now, his chest shakes and trembles. And yet he is still attempting compressions and mouth to mouth. Hannibal’s face is devoid of colour, lips a waxy blue as no breath passes between them. Will knows that if he were to stop, this would be him giving up. On his becoming, on Hannibal… On them. And so, he doesn’t. he continues on and on.

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

1…2…3…

Will startles as a hand clasps his shoulder and his head whips around. Behind him stands Jack, his face devoid of all emotion.

“Will, we have to go.”

“I can’t! I can’t leave him. He needs-“

Jack stares at him,

“he’s dead Will”

“He’s not! I just need to keep trying.” Will goes back to his compressions and lets out a feral noise as he is hooked from under the arms and dragged back.

“Let go off me! I need to help him. If I stop it will all be over!” Will shouts, struggling to get out of Jack’s grip.

“It is already over, Will!”

And yet, Will doesn’t relent. Fighting tooth and claw with Jack, kicking and screaming. Biting into Jack’s hand as he attempts to launch forwards. He feels nothing of the man he was, only instinct to get back to what is his.

If Jack thought that ‘act’ was bad, it was upstaged tenfold when officers advanced on Hannibal’s lifeless body, still led in the sand. Will’s efforts to get free were much more violent than last time. His body jerking in any direction it could, his head snapping back and catching Jack in the nose, instantly breaking it.

“Get the fuck off of him! Don’t touch him! I’ll fucking kill you!” Will continues screaming, his voice becoming scratchier with each shout. As if each bellowing was being ripped out from within him. Jack manages to get his arms around Wills, pinning the smaller man to his body as a medic approaches and sticks a needle in Will’s arm. He thrashes and snarls and cries and screams. And Jack is afraid. This is not the Will he knew, the one who was awkward and hated even so much as raising his voice. _Although that was never truly Will Graham, was it?_

Jack manages to lift and drag the broken man into the back off an ambulance, where several medics look him over. Patching up the various wounds that had began steadily leaking blood as his body warmed up. Will stares ahead the whole time they do this. He looks empty. He’s in a clean shirt and mostly dried off by now, they have placed a heated shock blanket and Will doesn’t even make an attempt to rectify it when the thing begins to slip down his shoulder. Instead, Jack does it for him while he explains the ins and outs of what is going to happen. Will doesn’t hear him, just continues to stare ahead of them, watching the moons reflection as it dances across the ocean. It reminds him of his house back in Wolftrap. No longer his home, he just lost his home. He knows what everyone is going to think of this display; they’re going to think he’s close to being catatonic. That he’s in shock of the day’s events, the cops getting gunned down and then the fight with The Dragon. But he doesn’t care about any of that, he’s just lost the only person who has ever truly known him.

He sees movement and his head shoots up. Ahead of him he sees a group of officers loading a zipped, black body bag into the back off another ambulance. He sees as they make petty jokes about how they had finally caught and put down the Chesapeake Ripper and his blood begins to boil. _They’re taking him away. They’re taking him away from me._

That’s when he starts screaming. Screams that don’t sound human. Their screams of a truly broken man so enraged and hurt by the world that he can do nothing but scream. And they will forever be ingrained in Jacks mind, playing over on repeat as he tries to sleep. In every blink, he will see this.

Will launches forwards but his legs are still too loose from the sedatives they gave him and he hits the ground, growling. Everyone around him is silent. _So silent. Peace at last._

And then Will blinks.

And he’s off of the beach and inside a room. He’s in the glass cell that used to hold the Chesapeake Ripper. But he’s been dead for 3 years now, and Will still hasn’t forgotten. He relives their final moments as one every single night. Thinking about how happy Hannibal was as he nuzzles the top of Will’s head. How happy he himself was in those first few moments of emerging from the water. And then he thinks of the moments after, how much they hurt and how he reckons they always will hurt.

He stands from his bed and walks towards the glass wall.

“Hello Jack” be greets the other man. And it feels as if Hannibal is stood right besides him, as it should have been. As it always will be. Will smiles, folding his arms behind his back as two orderlies come in to strap him up. He outright grins when he sees his Hannibal smile at him from the corner of the room.


End file.
